The BBC has returned 20 per cent of its Olympic tickets to the London 2012
organisers after scaling down their need for business entertaining.

BBC's London 2012 director Roger Mosey said the BBC had taken up the option to return 100 of its original order of 488 tickets following detailed planning of the organisation's needs.

Mosey said the move was part of the corporation’s determination to use the Olympic budget “wisely”.

The official Olympics host broadcaster had originally bought an average of 27 tickets for each competition day, totalling 488, but have now committed to buying only 388.

“There has always been an option for us to return up to 20 per cent [of our tickets] and get our money back if the detailed planning showed there were tickets we might not need,” Mosey said in a blog. “Having made a fresh assessment of our production and business needs, that's what we've now done.

“So 100 tickets have gone back to Locog, and our new total is 388 and as promised, we will publish the information about how we use any tickets for business use.”

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Mosey said the BBC had strict guidelines around the Olympic tickets. He said no tickets will be given free to any BBC staff member or on-screen talent for personal use, no matter what their level of seniority or fame, nor for any family members, partners or friends of BBC employees. He confirmed again that the BBC didn't purchase tickets for the opening or the closing ceremonies or any of the most expensive premium tickets for any event.

He said the tickets that have been purchased will be used for production reasons, for competition prizes for the public to win and some for business use, with external guests.

Most of the BBC staff working on the Olympics will be accredited by the organisers and will not require any separate tickets.

Following criticism of their coverage of the one year to go landmark for the Olympics, where the corporation sent 153 domestic staff to cover events in the capital – there were an additional 58 World Service staff, with 250 staff accredited in total – the BBC has been sensitive about how it is seen to spend its Olympic budget.

Mosey said savings would also be made in creating the BBC studio at the Games. He said that the studio from the World Cup in 2010 would be reused and that “economic and eco-friendly” shipping containers would be part of the construction.

He said outline planning permission had been granted for the studio in a prime location with a panorama of the main venues.

“Both these developments show our overriding aim for 2012 – which is to spend money on the output where it can be enjoyed by tens of millions of people,” he said.